Last update - 00:00 09/07/2007
Petitioners complain Katsav plea bargain is rife with failures
By Haaretz Staff
Groups who petitioned the High Court of Justice over the plea bargain signed by former president Moshe Katsav for alleged sex crimes said Monday that the investigation into the complaints against Katsav had "fundamental failures."
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, women's rights group Na'amat, religious feminist organization Kolech, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel and the Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO) argued that the plea bargain was "unreasonable in the extreme and harmful to public interests."
The comments came in the wake of the state's official response to the petitions, which it issued on July 5.
In its response to the groups' July 1 petitions, the State Prosecutor's Office said that the plea bargain had been reached due to a lack of evidence to prove the allegations in the indictment against Katsav, specifically those based on complainant A.'s accusations that the former president raped her.
In a deal with the state two weeks ago, Katsav agreed to plead guilty to sexual harassment, forcible indecent assault and harassing a witness. In return, rape charges were struck from the indictment and he was told he would receive a suspended sentence.
The petitioners highlighted the fact that the state received testimonies from ten separate complainants and nonetheless decided to accept a plea bargain.
The petitioners also wrote that the evidence presented to the government by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz was more than necessary for the attainment a rape indictment. They said that more extensive evidence is never required in a sexual assault case.
According to the petitioners, the ten complainants were never given a chance to testify before the court as required by law, allowing Katsav to go unchallenged in his presentation of his side of the story in the media.
The petitioners added that the plea deal was therefore based on considerations irrelevant to the case.
A special panel of High Court justices will hear petitions against the Katsav plea during a hearing a week from Tuesday.
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch will head the judicial panel, which will include justices Eliezer Rivlin, Ayala Procaccia, Edmond Levy and Asher Grunis.